中學生必背勵志美文——青春（雙語）

20世紀初，生於德國，后遷居美國的塞繆爾·厄爾曼寫過一篇不足500字的短文《青春》，大半個世紀來一直為世人傾倒，產生著經久不息的轟動效應。

青春，是一種精神狀態，理想在，奮鬥在，青春就在！一起來欣賞這篇《青春》吧！

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

青春不是芳華年少，而是一種心境；青春不是桃花紅顏、盈盈朱唇、輕柔體態，而是積極的心志，豐富的想象，炙熱的感情；青春是充滿生機、清新盎然的生命源泉。

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

青春是一種心性氣勢，是膽量戰勝怯懦，是勇敢探索戰勝苟且偷安。這樣的銳氣，與其說二十後生才具備，不如說在六旬老翁身上更多見。年輪的累加，並非意味著垂老；丟棄理想，才是真正意義的暮年。

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.

歲月會在額頭上留下痕迹；而拋卻熱忱，則讓靈魂長滿皺紋。憂愁煩惱，恐懼焦慮，自疑畏縮，一定使心靈頹廢，意氣如灰。

Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what's next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

無論年屆花甲，還是芳齡二八，人人心中都想往著奇妙事物，想知道明天會發生什麼；都有一顆孩童般久盛不衰的好奇心。你我的心中都豎有一架天線，只要你從天上人間接受美好、希望、歡樂、勇氣和力量的信號，你就青春永駐，風華常存。

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.

然而，天線一旦收起，玩世不恭、悲觀厭世就會像冰雪一樣，封蓋你的銳氣，即使年方二十，實際上也是垂垂老矣；但是，只要天線高置，還在捕捉樂觀的信號，追求美妙的夢想，你就有望在八十高齡告別塵寰時，仍然年輕。